


30 Ways to say "I love you"

by Logicallydreaming



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Adrinette, F/M, I love you One-shots, LadyNoir - Freeform, Marichat, Miraculous Ladybug Love Square, adrienette - Freeform, ladrien, miraculous spoilers
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-05-02
Updated: 2018-03-21
Packaged: 2018-10-27 02:43:15
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,169
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10800036
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Logicallydreaming/pseuds/Logicallydreaming
Summary: A series of One-Shots of our favorite love square saying, "I love you"Requests or suggestions welcome.





	1. Blurting

**Author's Note:**

> First Miraculous fanfic and first fanfic on Archive of our own. 
> 
> Feedback welcome! 
> 
> Enjoy!
> 
> Disclaimer: I don't not own Miraculous Ladybug

 

It was a beautiful evening. The sky was a pleasant mixture of gold and red with a deep bluish purple peeking through. The moon sat opposite of the setting sun in a giant ball of white, with little twinkling stars around it like jewels.

 

Chat Noir couldn't help but sigh in contentment at the scene of Paris before him, as he sat on the Eiffel Tower waiting for his partner so they could start their patrol.

 

Ah, Ladybug. The true jewel of his life. Was it the way she swung from building to building with such grace and carefree spirit that made him drawn to her? Or the way she bravely stood up to any Akuma in order to save innocent people? Or maybe even those moments when they were alone and they could just talk and he can make her face light up with laughter after he told her a de- _light_ -ful pun? Or those soft moments when she just sat with him silently after he had a rough day. She was just amazing.

 

Instantly, he felt his heart speed up and his breath leave him as the red and black spotted heroine landed next to him. His inside lit up in flame when she smiled at him.

 

“Hey, Chat! Are you ready to patrol?” She asked in her honey sweet voice of hers. He couldn't help but let his eyes trail over her features. Her midnight hair was in her usual two little pigtails, if not a little lopsided from swinging through the breeze over Paris. Her bluebell eyes sparkled with kindness, but also mysteries from her other life. Freckles scattered her cute button nose and her lips...oh her lips were the perfect shade of pink. They were so tempting, he just wanted to lean forward and kiss her with all that he had. He wanted to claws out and show him who he was behind the mask! And then they will fall in love and get married and have 5 cats and three kids and-!

 

“Chat Noir!” ladybug shouted, waving a hand in front of his face, “Are you okay?” She looked at him with concern, “do you want me to just patrol tonight-?”

 

“I love you!” He blurted out without meaning to. He quickly covered his mouth with horror for letting it slip out. It wasn't the right time and not at all how he hoped he would tell her. She'll probably hate him now.

 

“Oh, Kitty.” she murmured softly as she stepped closer to him, “I love you too. You're my best friend and the best partner a bug could ask for.” she smiled gently and ran her hand through his hair between his cat ears.

 

He shivered at her touch and let out a soft noise of pleasure before realising what she just said. Inside he was panicking, she thought he only meant as friends? Maybe that's a good thing, save him from his slip up, but...he couldn't hide from her anymore. Well, this part of himself, the mask will have to stay on, unfortunately.

 

“No.” He half whispered, standing up so he was eye level-ish (she's tiny) with her. “I mean, I love you as more than that. More than a partner, more than a friend. I love _love_ you.”

 

The way he said it almost made him feel childish, but he knew he got his point across when her eyes widened in shock. “Oh, Chaton..” she whispered and pulled him into a hug, “I'm sorry but, I have feelings for someone else…”

 

At that, he felt his heartbreak. He should have known his lady had someone else. He bet he was great. Someone who was just as wonderful as his lady. Someone better than him.

 

“...Someone out of my league.” he gasped and opened his mouth to protest, but she held up her hand before he could interrupt her, “And I don't want to lead you on, Chat. I care about you too much..”

 

He watched her carefully and noticed as she averted her eyes and bit her lip in guilt. He took her hand gently, “You are extraordinary, ladybug, and he'd be a fool not to see it. You're smart, funny, kind, brave and above all, Miraculous.” He smiled as she giggled and nudged him in the side.

 

She watched him thoughtfully for a few minutes, “I'm fortunate to have you in my life, Chat...I think I want to be able to love you too some day. If you'll let me.” she looked at him shyly.

 

He couldn't keep the beaming grin off his face at her confession and nodded, “I'll be _paws_ -itively patient while you do and when the day comes, I'll be here waiting.”

 

She smiled and pecked his cheek softly, “Thanks, Chat.” she looked up at the now purple sky, “Shall we patrol now?”

  
Chat nodded and gestured for her to go first with a bow, “After you, M’lady!”

 

 


	2. Shy Doves Coo

Chapter 2: Shy Doves Coo

"I love you."

Marinette didn't know what happened. One minute, she was staring at the back of her crush's head and lost in a daydream, and then next she was staring at shocked green eyes. The most beautiful green eyes in the entire world.

"What?" the angel in front of her asked, looking quite shocked and confused. He was biting his lip and his eyes flickered from Nino to Alya to his School bag and the window before flickering back to her.

"What?" Marinette repeated snapping out of her daydream and realizing what she said. "Ah!" She screamed, "no, no, no I said uh...shy doves coo?" She scratched the back of her head nervously, "Yeah, shy doves coo when they are shy.." she forced a giggle and begged silently for him to believe her.

Adrien shrugged and gave her a small smile, making Marinette squeak, "right…" he turned back around when an Akuma barged into the classroom.

"Chloe!" the Akuma yelled, of course it was Chloe that the Akuma victim was after. 11 out of the last 27 Akumas they had fought have been because of her.

"ugh, who are you?" Chloe crossed her arms looking at the colorful dressed super villain with arrogance.

"I am Hair Master! And because you laughed at my new hair cut, I'll give you the worst hair you'll ever imagine!" the Akuma had purplish tinted skin with long thick pink hair that was moving on its own, pulled back from her face with a black and purple bow. She wore a pink and purple suit with a belt around her waist with different hair supplies and a pair of giant scissors.

Instinct kicked in and Mari was in her feet ready to sneak off to be ladybug when the Akuma noticed and her hair pushed her back into her seat. "No one leaves without a haircut!" She shouted and did the same to Adrien who also tried to stand up, "You too, handsome!"

"well...this is a Hairy situation." Adrien mumbled, glancing behind himself to look at Marinette, making her smile slightly. Adrien was cute, trying to make her feel better, though the joke was cheesy and sounded familiar...

Alya and Nino made a run for it but Hair Master caught them and squirted hair mousse at them, causing them to get stuck against the wall.

The super villain then let go of Adrien and Marinette and put all her focus on Chloe, wrapping her hair around her.

Marinette knew she couldn't leave to become Ladybug and prayed that Cat Noir would show up soon. In the meantime, she eyed the Hair Master and noticed her bow. " the Akuma is in her bow!" She whispered which caused Adrien to look at her, "you sure?"

She looked at him in surprise and nodded, "yes, one hundred percent."

He nodded and looked up at her, "we should try to stop the Akuma until Ladybug gets here." He looked determined which surprised her, it looked really familiar…

She nodded, "Or Cat Noir." She pointed over to the Hair Master, "You find a way to distract her and I'll try to get her bow?" He smiled and nodded, "sounds like a plan!"

The pair looked up and noticed Chloe was crying for her to keep the scissors away ("do you know how much I paid to get my hair perfect!?") and the class were either tangled in her hair or were stuck by one of her hair products. They glanced at each other before slowly lowering themselves to the ground behind their desks.

Marinette watched as Adrien crawled to the teacher's desk and grabbed the ruler. He glanced her way and nodded to tell her he was ready. She gave an awkward thumbs up in return, he was so cute.

She then watched as he jumped out in front of the akuma, "Hey, Rapunzel!" He shouted at Hair Master getting her attention, "I think you should let us go and give us your Akuma, because we all know you're just going to have a split end."

This made her furious and she had her hair rush towards him to try and capture him. He quickly fought it off with his ruler.

Marinette watched Adrien fight and sighed dreamily, he was perfect. She then snapped out of it and got to work, with Adrien's distraction she made to grab the bow, only to see a strand of hair coming towards Adrien that he couldn't see. "Adrien!" She shouted and jumped in front of it before it could hit him and slammed her into the wall.

She blacked out for a moment and when she could see again she watched as Adrien fought hard against the Akuma, rage in his eyes.

She let out a soft moan before picking herself up and running towards the Akuma and punching her right in the face, snatching the bow.

The whole class looked at her in shock and she shrugged innocently, "uh, Cat Noir showed me a thing or two that one time he and I worked together." She shrugged and turned to Adrien who looked confused and handed him the Bow, "Here, Ladybug should be here any minute, I'm….going to go tell the principle what happened!" She then ran out of the room to go transform.

A few minutes later, Ladybug swung in. "Sorry I'm late." She looked at the mess, "but nice work." She smile at Adrien making him smile nervously back, "uh, thanks." He mumbled his cheeks red and he handed her the bow, "the Akuma is in here."

She broke the bow and caught the purple butterfly, cleansing it and letting it go. "Bye, Bye little Butterfly." She smiled at the students and then ran out of the classroom.

Marinette came back a few minutes later with the Principal who gave them all permission to go home.

As she and Alya were about to leave the school Adrien ran after them "Wait, Marinette!" He shouted and skid to a stop in front of her. Alya looked at her with a grin and went over to Nino. Marinette blushed and looked at Adrien, "uh...yeah?" She bit her lip nervously.

Adrien bit his lip and scratched the back of his neck, his cheeks turning slightly pink, "uh, are you okay?" He asked, concern in his green eyes, checking her over.

She blushed, "uh yeah, I'm okay, are you okay? You seem okay, but you're more than okay, you're great. Really great, perfect even...you're perfect." she rambled, but was cut off by Adrien's hand on her shoulder.

She slowly looked up at him and met his eyes. He smiled down at her, "Shy doves coo too."


	3. The Dark Times

Chapter 3: The Dark Times

 

Before the Miraculous earrings, Marinette was shy. She was friendly with everyone, but she didn't really have many friends. She was embarrassed by how clumsy she was. She could just be walking down the street and trip on a random cat. And then be bitten by that same cat! She was filled with bad luck and Chloe liked to make fun of her on a daily basis for it.

Thankfully it has flipped around since becoming Ladybug and if it wasn’t for Alya she wouldn’t be the confidant superheroine Paris looked up to today. She was finally free of the fear of not being liked or not being good enough. Thanks to Alya she developed a backbone, and thanks to Tikki and Chat Noir, she was free to be herself and not be afraid. She can stand tall on her own without fear of tripping or saying the wrong thing.

That is until Adrien is involved and her old self, comes tumbling in full force. What's worse as when she is transformed and she sees him. He must have put two and two together by now by all the times she's embarrassed herself around him.

Fortunately, the ladybug luck is on her side and she is able to snap out of her dazed Adrien fantasies in times of danger. She remembers she has a job to do and that is to keep him safe at all costs. That's hard, however, when so many Akuma are after him.

Like now, there was an Akuma in a light grey dress that fell to her charcoal tight covered knees with Black fingerless gloves that stopped at her elbow. Her makeup was done in dramatic and dark tones, except for two blue teardrops in the corner of each of her eyes. Her hair fell into a braid of strands of black and silver tied tightly by a white shoelace.

She seemed like a normal girl, but when she touched someone she would steal away their happiness and enthusiasm until all that was left was helplessness and sadness.

“Her name is Carrie,” Adrien spoke quietly as they hid from the Akuma and Ladybug waited for her partner to show. “She’s a Model I've worked with a couple times.”

Ladybug looked at him curiously, her heart hammering in her chest, was she Adrien’s girlfriend? She's a model? Of course, Adrien would pick someone who was a model!

“Her mom is a bit like my dad. Very controlling, always telling her what to wear, who she can spend her time with, what her hobbies are…” he trailed off, a hint of bitterness in his voice, “We're friends, well, as close to friends as we can get. We speak during breaks sometimes, when her mom is busy scheduling her next shoot. She told me about her idea of wearing a shoelace in her hair to show her silent rebellion towards her mother.” He peeked around the chimney they hid behind towards Carrie and sighed, “I encouraged the idea and told her how brave she was to do it. Her mother didn't think so, she grounded her from the little freedom she had. Anything she loved was taken away….that's probably why she is taking away everyone's Joy.”

Ladybug felt her heart clench in sorrow for the boy next to her and for the Akumatized victim. No parent should deprive them of what they love.

“The shoelace, that's where the Akuma must be!” Ladybug realized and looked towards Adrien, she placed her hand on his shoulder, “I'll get your friend back, don't worry.” she took a step back and grabbed her yo-yo, “stay here! Chat and I will keep you safe!” she promised and swung off to fight the Akuma.

She landed next to the girl and frowned, even in her transformation she can see that her eyes were red and the leftover traces of her tears. “Are you okay?” She asked her, genuinely concerned.

The girl turned to look at her, her dark eyes empty of emotion as she shrugged, “Where's Adrien?” she asked in a deep breathy voice, “He stole my happiness, so I'll steal his.”

“Carrie, please, let me help you.” Ladybug tried to reason with her, “I can help you find joy again…”

The purple butterfly appeared over Carrie’s eyes and she clenched her fists and teeth as blind rage filled her. “That's not my name!” she shouted and looked at Ladybug with a truly sinister look on her face. Where was Chat Noir?

“I am Achlys.” she hissed and raised her hand, “Give me your miraculous or pay the consequences.”

“I'm sorry, Achlys, I hope I can help you in the end.” she spun her yo-yo around ready to defend her attack.

Achlys screamed in rage and ran towards her, throwing angry blows at her, one after the other. Ladybug blocked each one but was taken off guard when she felt cold fingers against her cheek.

The Akuma had touched her and in an instant, all happy thoughts were drained out of her, even her lively red ladybug suit lost its color to a grey. She looked at Achlys and just felt tired. She lowered her guard, not really caring enough to fight her.

“NOOO!” She heard someone scream from behind her and a Black blur flew next to her and pulled her away from the Akuma to a safe distance. The boy in the catsuit looked at her with fear and guilt in his eyes. Did he feel guilty for not being there? She didn't see why or how it would have made a difference. Either he or she would have been affected. Looks like it was her this time.

“Ladybug.” Chat spoke softly, his hands laying gently on her shoulder, staring into her eyes, “I'm so sorry, I was late...I…”

She placed her finger over his lips and shrugged his hands off her shoulders, “whatever.” she shrugged, “I think I'll just hand over my miraculous and be done with it.”

“what??” He gaped at her in shock, “No, absolutely not!”

“think about it, Chat, what's the point? We're just going to lose, and even if we don't, what good do we actually do for Paris? I'm a fraud. I put on this mask, but underneath, I'm just a teenage girl who can't even tell her crush how she feels.” She slumped her shoulders and sighed, “I'm not brave, I'm not that hero you and Paris seem to put on a pedestal. I'm nothing important, I am nobody special. I'm just a clumsy idiot…I don't deserve the Miraculous.”

Chat stared at her for a few seconds before pulling her into a hug. Did she really feel that way or is it the Akuma?

She didn't wrap her arms around him, but they stood there for a few seconds before he pulled away and looked at her, “Listen to me, Ladybug, you are the most amazing, kind-hearted, selfless person I have ever met. You are adored by the people of Paris because you prove to them every day that you are committed to keeping them and the City safe. And I love you for it.”

She stared at him, love? He loved her? She felt something inside of her stir, her eyes flicked to where Adrien was hiding and then back to Chat's.

Her suit slowly startled to have a pink hue to it as her mind went into overdrive. Chat Noir loved her? Seriously? How was that possible? She was nothing! But not to him…but what about Adrien? He doesn't care about her, but It's okay because he's her friend. Their friendship was all they needed.

She stared into his eyes before she pulled him into a tight hug as she suit went back to its full red. She felt him wrap his arms around her tighter, scared that she would forget how incredible she was.

“we need to get the shoelace tied in her hair,” she told him as they parted and she looked back at the Akuma. The “I love you” would have to wait for right now. She made a promise to Adrien.

“any ideas?” He asked her as he spotted the white string swinging from the end of her braid.

She took a step from him, “Lucky Charm!” she shouted at the pink and red ladybugs flew around her and left her item in her hand.   
“A stereo?” she asked in confusion, looking at the red and black spotted item in her hands.

“What, are we going to dance the Akuma away?” Chat asked in confusion, his eyebrows knitted together.

She let her eyes wander, the Ladybug vision giving her an idea, “That's it, Chat!” she looked at him with a grin, “Dancing! Show her your moves.” she teased him with a wink, “and I'll get the Akumatized item!”

He nodded and bowed to her, “Whatever my Lady suggests, but admit it, Bugaboo, you just want to see this Alleycat dance.” He flirted back with a grin.

“You wish.” she grinned back and swung off to hide as Chat laughed and jumped over by the Akuma with the stereo.

He pressed the play button and started to dance. “Hey, Black Beauty! Want to dance?” He asked as he spun on his heels MJ style, “it will be fun!” he sang.

Achlys paused for a second a look of conflict on her face before the rage settled in again. She ran towards Chat and raised her hand to touch him.

He quickly dodged her attacks, but she kept swinging her fists faster and fast until she had him cornered.

They had stopped under an overhanging outside a cafe and he raised his hand and shouted, “Cataclysm!” He touched the pole holding the overhang up and watched it rusted away and fall on both of them.

Ladybug was quick to act and landed next to the overhang. Panic filled her chest, did Chat get hurt? She pushed it off the Akuma victim and pulled the lace from her hair. She then pushed it off of her partner who instantly was on his feet and next to her.

She sighed in relief and pulled the string apart, breaking the Akuma’s spell. The dark butterfly flew out of it and tried to run away, but Ladybug had other plans.

“No more evil doing for you, Evil Akuma!” she swung her yo-yo around to catch it, “Time to de-evilize!” She shouted and then watched as a pure white butterfly fluttered out, “bye, bye little butterfly!” She waved at it with a small smile.

She grabbed the stereo and threw it in the air, “Miraculous Ladybug!” She shouted and the pink and red ladybugs flew around the city, making everyone okay again.

“Pound i-woah!” Chat was taken off guard by Ladybug hugging him tightly, “Thank you for believing in me.”

He smiled and hugged her back, “Always.” he promised her, “I'll always believe and care about you.”

They heard a groan from behind them and saw Carrie looking around in confusion, “What happened?”

They explained to Carrie that she was Akumatized, but everything was back to normal. She seemed relieved at that but Ladybug could feel that she still didn't seem happy.

“here,” she said, writing down an email address she had created to give to Alya for her birthday. “I want you to have this, if you ever feel lonely or need someone to talk to, I'll be here for you,” she promised.

Carrie looked at the email with tears in her eyes, she hugged her tightly and backed away, “Thanks, Ladybug, I'll cherish it.” she held it to her chest like it was the most important thing to her before she ran off to go find her mother.

Chat pouted at her, “So she can get your email but I can't?” causing her to roll her eyes, “and have you spam me with Cat memes? Not a chance.” she teased.

She looked towards the chimney with a frown, “I need to make sure Adrien is okay..” she moved towards the building.

“I helped him off the building and told him to go home before I came to help you.” Chat scratched the back of his head nervously, “About what I said before…”

She smiled and kissed his cheek, “I know.” she sighed when she heard her final beep, “I need to go, bug out!” she called as she waved at him and threw her yo-yo to head home.

Chat watched with a sigh. Someday they will be able to talk about what he meant, but it seemed like she was accepting if his feelings and that is all that mattered to him. It gave him hope for the future.

Ladybug landed on her balcony and detransformed back into Marinette. She looked up at the sky and sighed.

Today has taught her a number of things, but number one was that belief and love was the most important thing to have. Not only does it break through to someone in the darkest times, it will help them heal. Friendship was a strong tool and Marinette cherished all the friends she had. So who cares what it was like in the past? She is happy now and she will strive to make everyone else just as happy. 


End file.
